cmunic8r99:How bad do you have to break a leg - short of (literally) breaking it off - to require amputation?

The kid got a bacterial infection in the lower leg after a compound double break of the leg. My limited medical knowledge tells me that the bone fractured and broke through the skin and, subsequently, became infected.

At that point, he's probably looking at two choices:- Keep the leg and go through years of physical therapy and several more surgeries while he walks with a limp for the rest of his life- Cut the leg off, go through the half a dozen surgeries that he did have, and be able to be remotely active with a prosthetic

bulldg4life:cmunic8r99: How bad do you have to break a leg - short of (literally) breaking it off - to require amputation?

The kid got a bacterial infection in the lower leg after a compound double break of the leg. My limited medical knowledge tells me that the bone fractured and broke through the skin and, subsequently, became infected.

At that point, he's probably looking at two choices:- Keep the leg and go through years of physical therapy and several more surgeries while he walks with a limp for the rest of his life- Cut the leg off, go through the half a dozen surgeries that he did have, and be able to be remotely active with a prosthetic

Didn't see anything about the infection in TFA (and was too lazy to look for more details).

cmunic8r99:How bad do you have to break a leg - short of (literally) breaking it off - to require amputation?

HotIgneous Intruder:How the fark does a young, strong, 18-year-old kid break his leg and have to have it amputated?

Kid had a compound fracture. This is where the bone breaks completely and results in a shard puncturing the skin from the inside out. A.k.a. broken bone sticking out of the flesh.

If the bone breaks the skin, it's very, very bad. It's not the damage to the bone that causes amputation, per se. The bone [marrow] is exposed to the outside, and football fields aren't exactly clean. They can do their best to clean the wound and give antibiotics intravenously, but if the bone gets infected the odds of losing the limb are high.

The prognosis is better if the bone is shattered into a dozen pieces as long as the skin's intact. Unbroken skin keeps the bone sterile until the surgeons get to it.

bulldg4life:At that point, he's probably looking at two choices:- Keep the leg and go through years of physical therapy and several more surgeries while he walks with a limp for the rest of his life- Cut the leg off, go through the half a dozen surgeries that he did have, and be able to be remotely active with a prosthetic

I wrecked a motorcycle in my misspent youth and broke both legs, amongst other things. I got an infection in my right leg and they were going to cut it off, I fought them on this and managed to keep the leg. Good thing because even though I had to fight that infection, the infected leg is the straighter of the 2 and the strongest. Knee is messed up in my left leg, and walk with a cane because of it. If I had allowed the amputation, I'd have been back in a wheelchair some time ago.Don't be so quick to cut off limbs, down the road it may make a difference./I do look gnarly in shorts.

dragonchild:cmunic8r99: How bad do you have to break a leg - short of (literally) breaking it off - to require amputation?

HotIgneous Intruder: How the fark does a young, strong, 18-year-old kid break his leg and have to have it amputated?

Kid had a compound fracture. This is where the bone breaks completely and results in a shard puncturing the skin from the inside out. A.k.a. broken bone sticking out of the flesh.

If the bone breaks the skin, it's very, very bad. It's not the damage to the bone that causes amputation, per se. The bone [marrow] is exposed to the outside, and football fields aren't exactly clean. They can do their best to clean the wound and give antibiotics intravenously, but if the bone gets infected the odds of losing the limb are high.

The prognosis is better if the bone is shattered into a dozen pieces as long as the skin's intact. Unbroken skin keeps the bone sterile until the surgeons get to it.

Truth. A guy I went to high school with, tried to perform a wrestling move on someone else from the top of a desk, and ended up face planting on the ground instead. Caught himself with his arm, and the lower arm bone snapped right through. Not only one of the more disgusting things I've ever heard (was on the opposite side of the room, couldn't see it, thankfully), but he was told there was a slight chance of something like that occuring. Probably a good thing that he was in a classroom at the time and not, as you said, on a football field. He did get to keep his arm.

I don't know about the infection thing, but if a open fracture causes major damage to the blood vessels in the limb, there's pretty much nothing else they can do but amputate. Robert Edwards, a Pro Bowl running back for the Rams, had a horrible injury during a sand football game at the Pro Bowl festivities years ago and nearly lost his leg because he tore the artery.

The Injury to the South Carolina running back, Lattimore, last week made me think he was lucky to keep his leg after how badly it was flopping around.

dragonchild:cmunic8r99: How bad do you have to break a leg - short of (literally) breaking it off - to require amputation?

HotIgneous Intruder: How the fark does a young, strong, 18-year-old kid break his leg and have to have it amputated?

Kid had a compound fracture. This is where the bone breaks completely and results in a shard puncturing the skin from the inside out. A.k.a. broken bone sticking out of the flesh.

If the bone breaks the skin, it's very, very bad. It's not the damage to the bone that causes amputation, per se. The bone [marrow] is exposed to the outside, and football fields aren't exactly clean. They can do their best to clean the wound and give antibiotics intravenously, but if the bone gets infected the odds of losing the limb are high.

The prognosis is better if the bone is shattered into a dozen pieces as long as the skin's intact. Unbroken skin keeps the bone sterile until the surgeons get to it.

Either that, or the compound fracture destroyed too much of the vascular system in the lower leg. If the "had his leg amputated a few days after breaking it" FTFA is 2 days, I'd venture to guess vascular. I do not think they would hack off a well conditioned teen's leg in 2 days for an infection.